


The beach

by Ertal77



Series: Noiz Week [3]
Category: DRAMAtical Murder (Visual Novel), DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Noiz Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-06-18
Packaged: 2018-04-04 23:51:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4157640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ertal77/pseuds/Ertal77
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Perhaps the time to open up and share something about themselves has finally arrived for Aoba and Noiz.</p><p>For Day 3 of Noiz Week. Prompt: Old Burdens/ New Beginnings</p><p>(Kind of cheating here, because I'm using both prompts, sort of).</p>
            </blockquote>





	The beach

The summer was slowly drawing near, and as the days grew longer their strolls around the town began to stretch further as well. Their steps led them to the beach that afternoon, and they had the place practically to themselves, because the water was still cold and the warmer hours of the day had already passed. Noiz and Aoba took their boots and socks out and rolled up their trousers, so they could at least enjoy the water on their feet. It was curious, how even through his dulled tactility Noiz felt the underwater sand playing between his toes, and he wondered, not for the first time, how it would be to feel it like everybody else. By his side, Aoba giggled, with his boots and warmers on his hand (and his light yellow socks sticking out his jeans’ pocket), and commented on how the sand was tickling on his feet. Noiz smiled, trying to imagine the sensation, and eased his slightly listless mood splashing some water towards Aoba. The young man shrieked when the cold water landed on him, and wasted no time in paying him back. In a minute the two of them were sodden, but they were also laughing like crazy. They stopped in a while and came closer to the shore; the sun was low now and it would be advisable to get dry before it set, or they would freeze on their way back home. So Aoba and Noiz kept walking by the sand, in a comfortable silence, while the few people around them started to scatter. Noiz licked his lips to taste the salty water and let his right hand brush occasionally against Aoba’s left one, enjoying the fact that Aoba didn’t move over to avoid it, although neither of them commented on it.

Suddenly, Aoba stopped in his tracks. Noiz threw him a questioning look, but Aoba seemed to be in deep thought, studying his surroundings as if he was searching for something.

“What’s wrong?” Noiz asked at last.

“I think this is the place”, Aoba muttered softly. “There was a church over there, and a dirt road that led there from the beach, half covered in high bushes. Perhaps the road is still there.”

Noiz couldn’t follow his thoughts, but he offered:

“Let’s check if it’s still there, if you want.”

Aoba shook his head and looked away from that direction, his eyes fixed now on the ocean.

“No… No need for it. I haven’t got any memories of that place anyway. My first memory is about this beach, and that’s when I was already six.”

Noiz caught up at last. He looked around at the beach with new eyes.

“Really? Right here? And what’s that memory about?”

Aoba turned to look at Noiz, wearing a tiny smile that didn’t mask how sad he looked.

“This is where I used to come when I was feeling sad, and where my father found me.”

He walked a few meters into the beach, to where the waves didn’t reach, and sat down facing the ocean. Without a word, Noiz sat by his side, waiting for his words.

“He was a traveller, my father”, Aoba continued. “Not because of his job, but because of his character. But when he found me here, we connected at once. He adopted me that same day. During a couple of years, I was the happiest of children, with him and mom and granny around. I had found a home, and I thought everything was going to be alright from then on.”

“And what happened?”

Aoba wrapped his arms around himself.

“Mom and he started to travel again; it was in their nature, as I said. Soon the travels became longer than the time they spent in Midorijima, and a time came when dad announced they weren’t going to come back in a long while. Since then, our only communication has been a postcard now and then. It’s been a couple of years since the last one arrived, in fact.”

Noiz didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t remember if he had ever comforted someone, not even his little brother when they were very young, so he was at a loss. He struggled for some minutes, trying to find something to say, something that would lighten the weight over Aoba’s shoulders, that grey cape that he seemed to be wearing right then, shrouding him. It was Aoba who spoke first, though.

“What about your parents, Noiz?” he asked in a tiny voice. “All you have told me is that you arrived to the island one year ago, when you were eighteen, and on your own. Are they in Germany?”

Noiz nodded, cautiously. He never talked about his parents. He simply hated it. But after what Aoba had shared with him, it would be selfish not to share at least a bit of his past with Aoba. He gulped and watched the waves, white foam turning slowly into grey as the sky grew darker.

“I basically escaped from them and came here”, he whispered. He didn’t turn to check on Aoba’s reaction; if he did, he didn’t thought he would be able to keep on talking. “I was locked in my room for almost ten years. They didn’t allow me to go to school, and hired private tutors instead. I couldn’t go to play outside either, and I barely could speak to my brother.”

“How come? Why would they do that?”

Aoba’s voice was full of sorrow, as Noiz feared. What he feared still more, though, was the explanation. There were certain things he wasn’t sure if he was able to talk about. Not with Aoba, especially.

“They were… worried, because I always got into fights and hurt myself. When I was very young, they were always too busy at work, so getting hurt was the better way I could find to obtain their attention.”

Aoba remained silent for a moment, digesting his words. Then he commented:

“That’s… horrible. I don’t know what would I do if I had a son and he behaved like that, but shutting you down? I think I would talk to you first, try to understand your reasons and make you change your behaviour… Perhaps looking for professional advice?”

“They did that, we went to visit a psychiatrist for a while, but it didn’t work. I… I wasn’t good at communicating with them.”

He fought to stay focused on the waves, clenching his fists around his knees. He didn’t want to say more. Because, if he did, Aoba was going to react like his parents; not locking him up in a room and throwing the key away, of course, but shutting him down in a metaphorical way. If Aoba would find out he was a monster, unable to physically feel, unable to share other people’s emotions, he would vanish from his life in a snap, and Noiz didn’t want to think about what life without Aoba by his side could be, either. For the first time in years, perhaps since his first years locked in his room in Germany, Noiz was afraid. He didn’t know how Aoba had slipped into his life like that, slowly, imperceptibly but stubbornly making himself a place in the vast greyness that was Noiz’ life before Aoba. In his mind, around Aoba there was a glow of colour, a twirl of blues and whites and pinks that warmed a bit his bleak moor of a life, and he couldn’t stand the thought of losing it.

“You were just a child, Noiz. It wasn’t your fault.”

Aoba’s words seemed to arrive from afar, so lost was Noiz in his thoughts, and he was shocked at noticing a hand on his shoulder. And when he turned to look at him, Aoba was right there, very close to him, and gazing at him with a look full of intent and none of the pity or the contempt he was expecting. Without thinking, Noiz came closer until their lips met, finding Aoba’s half way already, waiting for him. And although he had previously stolen a couple of kisses from Aoba, that had nothing to do. This time it wasn’t a light brush of their lips, but a full-on kiss, with lips opening greedily to find each other’s tongue and a slight fight over who was exploring the other’s mouth and who should wait his turn. Aoba hummed when he felt Noiz’ tongue piercing stroking his palate and seemed to melt when Noiz ran his hands through his long hair, caressing his scalp.

When they parted to regain their breath, Aoba casted his eyes downwards and blushed lightly, but a smile was gracing his gentle features, so Noiz felt at least reassured that he wasn’t wasting his time with Aoba. He wasn’t sure if the knot he usually felt in his stomach when he was around Aoba was feeling looser or tighter, but he could swear that his heart was going to explode if it kept pumping so madly. He breathed deeply in order to slow it down, and then Aoba and he shared a stare and the young man looked as shocked as him. It was so ridiculous to see their state reflected in each other that they both burst into laughter at the same time.

Noiz stood up and reached for Aoba’s hand to pull him up. They started to walk again, back home now, hand in hand, and Noiz tried to engrave every detail of their surroundings to his memory: the pink and peach sunset sky over them, the murmur of the waves on their ears and the salty smelt of the ocean. It would be the second memory Aoba would have of that piece of beach, and somehow Noiz hoped that, in years to come, that memory of their first true kiss would grow to be as cherished as his father’s memory to Aoba.

 


End file.
